Life-threatening flash flooding was hitting areas of East Texas north of Beaumont early Wednesday morning, as more than 20 inches of rain had fallen from the remnants of Tropical Storm Edouard in some places, federal forecasters said.
At least one evacuation had taken place from water entering a structure as heavy rain bands swept over the communities of Kountze, Honey Island and Village Mills, according to the National Weather Service office in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Forecasters urged people to get to higher ground and said potential damage could be catastrophic.
Rain had already soaked the area when the center of the storm passed over it, said Andy Tingler, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Rainfall totals in places had reached 15 to 22 inches as rain kept falling Wednesday, prompting concerns about street flooding and creeks overflowing.
The flash flood emergency warning for the Kountze, Village Mills and Honey Island area was in effect through at least 10:45 a.m. while the storm slowly moved north. In a Facebook post at 4:05 a.m., the city of Kountze said it was experiencing some street flooding and asked residents to limit their travel.
“We would assume that there probably are quite a few things that are flooded over there,” Tingler said.
The center of Edouard was located just north of Lake Livingston before 7 a.m. Wednesday and still producing gusty winds, said Cameron Self, a meteorologist with the NWS Houston/Galveston office. The office expected sustained winds of 15 to 25 mph were possible with gusts up to 40 mph.
A larger region was under flash flood warnings Wednesday — meaning flash flooding was imminent or already occurring — including much of Hardin and Tyler counties, eastern Montgomery County, southeastern San Jacinto County, southeastern Polk County and northern Liberty County. The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe had reported flooding in their area east of Livingston, according to NWS.
Heavy rain could continue throughout the day across a broad area stretching from Houston to the northeast.
“Flash flooding is likely across this region, especially in urban areas,” the National Weather Service forecast said. “Significant flash flooding is possible.”
More than 70,000 homes and businesses were without power as of 7:15 a.m. Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.com as crews worked to make repairs.
Most of those outages — more than 27,000 — were in Jefferson County, home to Beaumont and Port Arthur, near where the storm made landfall. Other power outages were reported in Hardin, Polk and Orange counties.
“Our crews are doing everything they can to safely restore services to our customers,” Frank Shannon, vice president of reliability for Entergy Texas, one of the main power providers for the region, said in a news release Tuesday. “While high winds, flooding, and other conditions can make restoration more challenging, our teams will continue to work to reach all areas affected by the storm as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Radar indicated the storm made landfall just east of the Texas-Louisiana border near Johnson Bayou, Louisiana, at 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Tropical storm warnings were in effect when the storm arrived along coastal areas from Bolivar Peninsula east to Louisiana, with expected sustained winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour inland and gusts of up to 40 mph.
The National Weather Service forecast Tuesday predicted the storm could drop three to six inches of rain Tuesday into Wednesday as it moves inland in a northwest direction, with some isolated spots receiving 10 to 15 inches of rain. The forecast said some areas could see rainfall rates of 3 to 4 inches an hour.
The National Hurricane Center said the rain was likely to produce flash flooding, especially in low-lying and urban areas, and river flooding is possible.
“Where those heavier rainfall totals occur, flash flooding will be possible,” Jimmy Fowler, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service Houston/Galveston office, said in a webinar on Tuesday.
The likelihood of parts of the southern piney woods region in East Texas receiving more than 10 inches of rain had increased to 10% to 25%, according to the local National Weather Service office.
The storm’s maximum sustained winds were estimated around 60 mph with stronger gusts as it reached land. A wind gust of 71 mph and sustained wind of 57 mph were recorded near Texas, according to the National Hurricane Center. Forecasters predicted the storm would weaken rapidly as it moved inland.
The Beaumont/Port Arthur Southeast Texas Regional Airport reported a wind gust of 69 miles per hour early Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
Because of Edouard’s relatively small size, tropical storm-level winds were only expected 25 miles from the center.
The state deployed rescue aircraft, boats and high water vehicles and the state’s emergency operations center has been activated, along with 1,500 state personnel, Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference on Monday. He urged people to prepare and stay vigilant.
“We have seen too often vehicles being swept away,” Abbott said. “It is so incredibly important for anybody in any region of the state, but especially in Harris County, to avoid driving into what appears to be waters on the roadway.”
Houston leaders said Tuesday they were closing dozens of flood-prone roadways and expected the worst impacts east of Interstate 45. The city also lowered Lake Houston by a foot below full to absorb possible floodwater, city leaders said.
City officials urged people to stay off the roads if they could, especially at night.
“Please keep in mind this is a tropical air mass that’s moving in here — very humid, very moist,” said Brian Mason, the city’s emergency management coordinator. “We could have very high rainfall rates.”
Some Houston-area school districts announced closures Tuesday due to potential flooding, including Channelview, Galena Park and Humble.
The storm struck the Texas coast less than two months after days of heavy rains hit the southwest portion of the state, from San Antonio west to the U.S.-Mexico border, causing widespread flooding in places such as Uvalde, Crystal City, Kerrville, which suffered massive flash flooding in July 2025 that left at least 119 people in the surrounding county dead.
Major federal funds have still not been approved to help people and local governments rebuild from this year’s flooding.
Officials were also watching the potential for Edouard’s’s winds to ignite fires. Amid hot, dry conditions, the state has battled major fires this month, including the Ross Fire, which had burned more than 90,000 acres as of Monday and was already one of the largest wildfires recorded in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Edouard didn’t start to show potential Texas impacts until Sunday morning, giving the state less time than usual to prepare, said Orlando Alanis, assistant agency director for the Texas Division of Emergency Management. Typically, the state has five to seven days of lead time to get ready for hurricanes, he said.
Federal forecasters elevated it from a tropical depression to a tropical storm Monday evening. They were watching for potential strengthening and hurricane conditions overnight and into Tuesday before it made landfall.
“This is our first big storm of the season,” Alanis said. “And I’ll tell you, Texas is prepared.”
Megan Menchaca contributed to this story.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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